Big East Football: Coaching Keeps Conference Afloat

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In 2005 there was a conference shakeup that should have crippled the Big East.  Virginia Tech, Miami, and Boston College, arguably the top three teams in the conference, jumped ship to the ACC.

At the time it was believed that the ACC would become a football powerhouse, while the Big East would become the strongest college basketball conference in the nation.

The latter turned out to be fairly accurate—however, nobody could have expected the sustained football success the Big East has had since 2005.

In fact, one could conclude that since 2005 the Big East has been the superior football conference over the ACC.  This has been due in a large part to the improbable number of fantastic coaches who have graced the Big East.

Greg Schiano, Randy Edsall, Jim Leavitt, Rich Rodriguez, Bobby Petrino, Mark Dantonio, and Brian Kelly are all coaches who would be desired by a score of college football programs—yet all have resided or are currently residing in the Big East.

One-fourth of the teams in the Big East weren't in Division I-A as of 2000.  Edsall's UConn Huskies team worked its way from the Division I-AA level to become one of the most rapidly successful teams in college football history.

Since that time he's led UConn into a BCS conference, a bowl game victory, and a Big East Conference championship.

Jim Leavitt has literally built the South Florida Bulls from nonexistence in 1996 into a top-10 ranked team in a matter of 10 years.

Who would have thought in 1996 that the Bulls of South Florida would be stepping onto the field in the plains of Auburn and coming away with a victory on a steamy Saturday night in the heart of SEC country?

Leavitt has built a powerhouse, and he has the in-state talent and resources available to bring South Florida to the promised land.

Without either Jim Jeavitt or Randy Edsall, both programs would be nowhere near the success levels they're currently enjoying.

Cincinnati, who had been off the college football radar since the the '60s, was able to hire Mark Dantonio in 2003.  Dantonio was a top-notch coordinator at Ohio State at the time, coming off their 2002 championship season.

Dantonio brought recognition to the Bearcats squad and was later hired away by Michigan State.  Cincinnati then went out and made another great hire in Brian Kelly, who was considered by several football programs as a desirable head coach.

Cincinnati wouldn't have been able to attract Kelly if it wasn't in the Big East.   The ability to contend for a BCS bowl berth year in and year out is something Central Michigan couldn't offer.  Up until 2005, Cincinnati couldn't have offered it either, but their move to the Big East opened the window for them to hire Kelly.

The long-term success of the conference is going to weigh heavily on the ability to retain or hire top-flight coaches.  The overall player talent in the league is the weakest of all the major BCS conferences.

Many of the names who grew into college superstars—such as Steve Slaton, Pat White, and Ray Rice—were not blue-chip athletes coming out of high school and were not drafted like superstars in recent NFL drafts.

The Big East is at great risk of falling off if they don't have good coaches in place to guide these athletes.

The most immediate impact seen in the Big East by a departed coach was the nosedive at Louisville this past season after Bobby Petrino departed for the Atlanta Falcons.

The team seemingly unraveled throughout the course of the year despite not losing much, if any, of the major talent from the previous season, including star quarterback Brian Brohm.

Louisville went from being Big East Champions in 2006 under Petrino to having a 6-6 record the following season with Steve Kragthorpe.  The six losses in 2007 is more than Louisville had combined over the course of the three previous seasons.

West Virginia is in great danger of this happening in the near future.  Bill Stewart was very much a heat of the moment hire for the university after their bowl victory against Oklahoma.

The loss of offensive mastermind Rich Rodriguez and the hiring of unproven Bill Stewart could sink the Mountaineers into mediocrity in two or three years.

The immediate impact may not be felt this season, as the 1-2 punch of Pat White and Noel Devine return to a similar offensive scheme.

If, however, West Virginia is getting beaten into submission on September 18th in Boulder, it could be a sign of a long season for the Mountaineer faithful.

Greg Schiano is another coach at risk of leaving Rutgers and the Big East.  All signs point to the former Nittany Lion holding out for the Penn State job upon Paterno's exit.

Rutgers was the absolute doormat of college football until Schiano pulled a 180 on the program and made them the Cinderella team of college football two seasons ago.  The sustained success of the Rutgers program is a testament to his coaching ability.

Ironically, the two teams who have historically been the top squads in the conference, Syracuse and Pittsburgh, have been poor to mediocre at best, mainly because of bad coaching hires.

Nobody could have predicted how big of a failure the Greg Robinson experiment has been at Syracuse, but they will not come close to sniffing success in the Big East as long as he's there.

At Pittsburgh, Dave Wannstedt has been able to bring talent, but not victories to the grossly underperforming Panthers.  Pitt hasn't been nearly as bad as Syracuse, but they have been the biggest disappointment in the league due to lack of success under their high-profile coach and highly talented athletes.

There is reason to believe that the Big East can maintain success and attract good coaches.  For one, due to the number of teams in the conference, the road to a BCS game is far easier in the Big East than any other BCS conference.  With that comes an easier path to the BCS championship game.

Another advantage that is several of the programs in the conference are experiencing their greatest level of success in the history of their programs.

Because of that success, there's an added significance for many of the coaches to stick around with their respective schools to reach legendary status.

If Jim Leavitt had left South Florida to coach at Alabama, he would have been at best the second or third-best coach in school history.  What he's done at South Florida is unprecedented.

His legendary status at South Florida is what should talk louder than the enormous salary offers other big time football programs throw at him.

For a lot of coaches, however, money does talk, and if the price is right they will walk to the highest bidder.

The Big East needs to understand that they need to have great coaches in place throughout the conference to maintain their prestige.  If the universities aren't willing to buck up the cash for these coaches, the conference could easily spiral into mediocrity.

If that happens, these universities could soon lose some of the perks of being in a BCS conference.